Fun, Food, Family and Failures.

I love food. I love cooking food. I love eating food. I love teaching my kids to love food. I love food being cooked for me. I love dining out.

Today my husband is home from work, this means the television is on and I find myself listening in on all sorts of stories which would have slipped passed my radar on a normal day. So today is the conversation on the Morning Show on Channel Seven.

A Queensland restaurant owner says his business is booming, after he banned children under the age of 7. Liam Flynn created the controversial policy last month, following a confrontation with customers who were slow to remove their crying toddler. Would you go to a restaurant that banned young children?

Bloody oath I would!

I love my kids, they know how to dine. They are very good. Only last week I took my 4 year old boy out for lunch with the ladies. As we were sitting there enjoying our meals, a fellow diner came over to our table as she was leaving the restaurant. She commended me on how well behaved my little dude was. I graciously thanked her for her compliment. I am now reflecting that she probably saw us walk in, thought ‘oh crap, a kid, there goes my peaceful lunch’ and rightly so.

I have many years of waiting tables under my belt. I have had many experiences with children, from the most freaking annoying little beasts who got under my feet while carrying hot soup and refused point blank to stop running up and down the stairs, to the 5 year old girl who still stands out in my mind when she asked ‘Daddy, can I please have the chicken liver pate?’ That little diner may have been a complete turd on another occasion in another restaurant, she would be about 18 years old now, I hope she enjoys her nights out after her parents taught her the finer points of dining. Bottom line is they are kids. Kids can be quite annoying at times.

Parents are the educators, but staff can also help by giving great customer service. It’s the little things. ‘Do you require a high chair?’ ‘Here are some colouring sheets and coloured pencils?’, ‘Can I order your child’s meal/drink immediately?’ Give them something to do and get that food out. Nine times out of ten they will have waited past their meal time and those little dudes are hungry and we all get crabby when we are hungry.

But I digress, back to the question. Would you go to a restaurant that banned young children? Yes. I would dine at a restaurant who does not allow children. I often go out to clubs where children can’t go. Why? Because I am an adult, and it is nice to be an adult in an adults world. I like to be able to drink and swear and dance and not worry about setting an example to the little people around me.

As I researched this a little more I found out that Flynn’s restaurant in Yungaburra now allows dogs. Well done Liam, you have gone viral in your decisions about policy change on two occasions now. Your business will most likely prosper for a time due to all of this free publicity.

But sorry, I can no longer come to your establishment. Why? If I don’t know a dog’s owner, and trust them to control it, I am so shit scared of them I would never be able to relax in your restaurant. No skin off your nose though, we are all different, the dog lovers will come (and I live in Victoria).